Ex-WWE Star Talks Relationship With Real American Freestyle Before Hulk Hogan's Death

Now two months into running shows, Real American Freestyle is continuing to soldier on, even without one of its creators, Hulk Hogan. The wrestling legend didn't even get to see the first show, having passed away a month before RAF's first event, but he continues to loom large over the freestyle wrestling promotion, both because he helped form it, and because he wound up being instrumental in recruiting some notable names to the organization.

That includes former WWE and TNA star Kurt Angle. In an interview with "The Ariel Helwani Show," Angle, who serves as an analyst for RAF, revealed that it was Hogan who recruited him to RAF.

"You know, Hulk Hogan came to me, actually, before Hulk passed away," Angle said. "He said 'Brother, I'd love to have you on my team. I've started a wrestling...promotion.' And I thought 'Okay, pro wrestling. It's another WWE.' And he was like 'No, no. I want the real wrestling, I want the freestyle wrestling.' And I was like 'Whoa, that's kind of surprising.' He said 'Listen, we can make this thing really big, but I need you to be a part of the team.'"

According to Angle, he actually turned down Hogan at first, believing the money offer was a bit too low. It was only after Angle turned down another contract offer from another freestyle wrestling promotion called CLAW that he and Hogan came back to the table.

"So then, I contact Hogan again, and I said 'Listen. Let's talk again. And let's see if we can make something work,'" Angle said. "And we talked again, and we made it work. And he passed away in the process of me signing a contract. So Chad Bronstein, the other owner, continued on with me. And he signed me on."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The Ariel Helwani Show" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription